Places We Love

Editor’s Note: Please try and capture new images for this assignment. Images published in previous assignments will not be selected for the final story.

I love Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I think that’s a statement I make each time that I meet someone new and they ask about the place where I grew up. I can carry a conversation about the best places to eat, best places to be on a Sunday afternoon, and the best place to view the city at night.

Because I love my home so much, I have always been fascinated by where people are from or the places they now call home. I also really enjoy traveling, and I’ve fallen in love visiting places that some of our Your Shot photographers call home, such as San Francisco, Chicago, Wyoming, New York, and Banff!

For this assignment, I’m challenging our community to photograph the places they love. What is it about a place that makes you fall in love with it? Iconic landmarks? Interesting architecture? Breathtaking views? Or maybe you love meeting interesting people in your own neighborhood, or you love a hiking trail out in the country. You don’t have to go far to show me an interesting location that you deeply care about. If I were participating, I would share this image from San Francisco. I don’t call this place home, but I have found myself falling in love with the beauty of the West Coast each time I visit. Or maybe I would share this image from Charleston, South Carolina—another place I love for its beauty and culture. A reminder to write in your caption why you love the place you are sharing with us and while I will accept older images for this assignment, please try and get out and take some new images of places you love.

Now that it’s almost summer here in Washington, DC, I’m ready to travel. So show me a place you love, because I’m hoping the final story inspires me to take a vacation sometime soon!

Fourth Submission

Posted may 21, 2018

Hello!

This assignment is opened up for a fourth submission. I enjoyed the discussion board chat, feel free to look through some of the questions and my answers. If I didn't get to your question don't worry I'll be digging back through the thread and will answer more questions later today.

Reminder this assignment closes for submissions on Tuesday, May 22nd, at 12pm EST!

12pm Chat

Discussion Board Chat

Posted may 18, 2018

Hello all!

It has been quite sometime since we did a discussion board chat here on Your Shot. So on Monday, May 21st at 12pm EST, I will be on the assignment discussion board answering your questions for one hour. So make sure you have your questions prepared for Monday.

Editor's Update #1

Posted may 10, 2018

We’re one week into the assignment and, as usual, the submissions are amazing and surprising me. When I began this assignment I thought I’d see some incredible cityscapes, or maybe a portrait inside a local barbershop. I couldn’t imagine that, instead, I would be seeing an image of a pro wrestling event in Fairfax, Virginia. I didn’t know I would be so moved by a photograph from Children’s Hospital as a mother checks in on her infant son. And I didn’t expect to go underwater with a free diver in Tonga. All of these images clearly hold special places in the photographers’ hearts.

Of course, we have also seen some excellent landscapes. I love the composition and the story behind this image taken by Your Shot photographer Jeff Cagle while he visited Indonesia. We see a lot of images of cormorant fishermen here, but this one by Your Shot Photographer M. Ghosh stands out. It’s nicely toned, and the good use of space shows us how the fisherman fits within his incredible environment.

As we continue, my advice is to think about why you love a certain place, and to come up with ways to communicate that emotion within a photograph. Landscape images are great, but what about that landscape do you love? How can you make the frame more interesting to the viewer? And you don’t have to travel far and wide for this assignment. What about your own home, neighborhood, or city do you love? And how can you help us feel that love when we look at your picture? Ask yourself these questions while you’re out with your camera. I can’t wait to see the results!

Matt Adams

Senior Producer, Nat Geo Your Shot

Matt is a Senior Producer on the Your Shot team. He curates and produces the Daily Dozen gallery as well as monthly assignments. Before Nat Geo, Matt was a photography instructor and freelance photographer working for publications such as Wired, Spin, and Pittsburgh Magazine.